Second Time Around

The CEO of a pharmaceutical company goes down in his plane crash, and it transpires that the firm isn’t as close to curing cancer as he’s been telling everyone, and its cash has been embezzled to the hilt. Was he a fraud? Was it an accident, murder, suicide or a faked death to enable a getaway?

Enter Carly, the half-step-sister-in-law-seven-times-removed of the wife of the potentially dead potential crook, who aims to answer all of these questions.

It’s all just a bit dull. Each of the four-page chapters recaps the plot, so by chapter fifteen all we’ve really established is – fifteen times – Nick was a jolly nice chap who may have been a horrible con merchant.

There’s very little suspense or any particular hook to grab the attention. If you make it to the end, don’t expect any surprises.

Mary Higgins Clark is a prolific writer, and this was a disappointing introduction to her work.